How America's National Parks Became Critically Crowded With Tourists - Cheddar Explains
Summary
TLDREl script explora la creciente problemática de la sobrepoblación en parques nacionales estadounidenses, destacando su impacto en la conservación y experiencia del visitante. Se discute la historia de la gestión de estos espacios naturales, desde la fundación del primer parque nacional hasta los desafíos actuales de infraestructura y preservación, y se sugieren posibles soluciones para equilibrar el acceso y la protección de estos lugares.
Takeaways
- 🏞️ El Parque Nacional de Yosemite es conocido por sus imponentes acantilados rocosos y cascadas, pero también por la creciente cantidad de visitantes que lo llenan.
- 🌅 La belleza del atardecer en Yosemite es única, pero la aparición de turistas en masa cambia la experiencia de naturaleza.
- 📈 En 2016, el Servicio de Parques Nacionales registró un récord de visitantes, superando los 330 millones en sus diferentes lugares.
- 🔍 La creciente congestión en los parques nacionales hace más difícil cumplir con la misión doble del Servicio de Parques Nacionales: preservar y hacer accesibles estos lugares.
- 🏔️ La historia de los parques nacionales comienza con el Parque Nacional de Yellowstone en 1872, impulsado por el temor a la comercialización de la belleza natural.
- 🌳 John Muir, conocido como el padre de los parques nacionales, abogó por la creación de espacios para la preservación ambiental.
- 🛣️ Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el aumento en la población y la expansión de la infraestructura de carreteras condujeron a un aumento en la visitación a los parques nacionales.
- 🚗 El plan 'Misión 66' se implementó en 1956 para mejorar las infraestructuras de los parques nacionales, pero las visitas continuaron creciendo.
- 📈 Desde 2014 a 2019, el Servicio de Parques Nacionales experimentó un aumento del 12% en la visitación, especialmente en parques populares.
- 📊 Factores como la clase media en ascenso, la economía fuerte, el turismo asequible y las campañas publicitarias exitosas contribuyeron a la popularidad de los parques nacionales.
- 🌐 El cambio climático y la amenaza a la belleza natural de los parques nacionales puede aumentar la urgencia de visitar estos lugares.
- 🚶♂️ La congestión y el desprecio por las reglas de no dejar rastros han impactado la preservación de los parques nacionales.
- 🚦 El Servicio de Parques Nacionales está buscando soluciones para manejar la congestión sin limitar el acceso a estos lugares públicos.
- 🏞️ Los parques nacionales menos conocidos pueden aliviar la presión sobre los más populares, ofreciendo una experiencia más tranquila de la naturaleza.
Q & A
¿Qué lugar se describe al comienzo del guion como conocido por sus imponentes acantilados rocosos y cascadas?
-El guion describe Yosemite National Park, un lugar famoso por sus acantilados rocosos y cascadas que se desbordan por sus bordes.
¿Qué comparación se hace entre Yosemite Valley y un parque de diversiones debido al número de turistas?
-Se compara Yosemite Valley con un parque de diversiones debido a la gran cantidad de turistas que lo llenan, lo que resulta en una experiencia muy diferente a lo que se espera de un parque nacional.
¿Cuál fue el número de visitantes que registró el Servicio de Parques Nacionales en 2016?
-En 2016, el Servicio de Parques Nacionales registró un récord de visitantes con más de 330 millones de personas.
¿Cuál fue el propósito del Servicio de Parques Nacionales al ser establecido en 1916?
-El Servicio de Parques Nacionales fue establecido para preservar lugares naturales y hacerlos accesibles al público, evitando la comercialización y garantizando la conservación de la tierra.
¿Qué evento histórico llevó a la fundación del primer parque nacional en 1872?
-La vergüenza causada por la comercialización de Niagara Falls, que fue condenada por muchos europeos, llevó a la fundación del primer parque nacional en 1872, Yellowstone.
¿Quién se le conoce como el padre de los parques nacionales y qué esfuerzos realizó para la creación de estos espacios?
-John Muir, un escritor influyente, se le conoce como el padre de los parques nacionales. Escribió sobre la necesidad de crear espacios para la conservación ambiental y llevó a cabo esfuerzos para preservar estos lugares, incluso llevando al presidente Teddy Roosevelt en un viaje de acampada a Yosemite.
¿Cuál fue el impacto de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en la asistencia a los parques nacionales?
-Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la asistencia a los parques nacionales disminuyó debido a que algunos parques se utilizaron como campos de entrenamiento y centros de descanso para las tropas.
¿Qué fue 'Mission 66' y qué cambios implementó en los parques nacionales?
-'Mission 66' fue un plan implementado en 1956 con el objetivo de mejorar la infraestructura necesaria para atender a las crecientes multitudes de visitantes, incluyendo el aumento de centros de visitantes y la construcción de nuevas carreteras dentro de los parques nacionales.
¿Qué factores contribuyeron a la rápida y significativa aumento en la visitación a los parques nacionales en los últimos años?
-Factores como la creciente clase media, una economía fuerte, el aumento de los viajes asequibles, campañas publicitarias exitosas, el cambio cultural hacia la importancia del aire libre para la salud mental y física, y la amenaza del cambio climático contribuyeron al aumento en la visitación a los parques nacionales.
¿Qué desafíos enfrentan los parques nacionales debido al sobrepeso en visitantes?
-Los parques nacionales enfrentan desafíos como la contaminación del aire, la falta de mantenimiento de infraestructura, la seguridad física de los visitantes, el tráfico y el estacionamiento limitado, y la degradación ambiental debido a la falta de cumplimiento de las reglas de no dejar rastros.
¿Qué estrategias están considerando el Servicio de Parques Nacionales para manejar el sobrepeso de visitantes y preservar los parques?
-El Servicio de Parques Nacionales está considerando estrategias como la emisión de permisos, la creación de sistemas de reservas o sorteos, y el uso de autobuses compartidos para manejar el sobrepeso de visitantes y preservar los parques.
Outlines
🏞️ Parques Nacionales y el Desafío de la Sobrevisitación
El primer párrafo introduce la paradoja de los parques nacionales en Estados Unidos, que a pesar de ser espacios naturales diseñados para ofrecer tranquilidad y paz, se han convertido en lugares de gran afluencia turística. Se menciona la experiencia de la ecologista recreativa Dr. Ashley D'Antonio, quien se sorprendió al encontrarse con multitudes de turistas en el Valle de Yosemite, comparando la situación con un parque de diversiones. La narrativa también destaca la creciente preocupación por la sobrevisitación, que alcanzó un pico histórico en 2016 con más de 330 millones de visitantes. La historia de los parques nacionales se remite a su fundación en 1916 y la influencia de figuras como John Muir y Teddy Roosevelt en su creación, con el objetivo de preservar estos espacios naturales mientras se mantienen accesibles al público.
🚗 El Desarrollo de la Infraestructura y la Aumento de Visitantes
El segundo párrafo aborda el crecimiento del sistema de carreteras y su impacto en la accesibilidad de los parques nacionales, lo que resultó en un aumento significativo de visitantes después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Se describe cómo la infraestructura de los parques se vio abrumada por la creciente afluencia de turistas, lo que llevó a la implementación del Plan Mission 66 en 1956 para mejorar las instalaciones y servicios. Sin embargo, a pesar de estos esfuerzos, la sobrevisitación persistió y se volvió más desafiante con el tiempo. Se destaca la importancia de la planificación para el futuro y la necesidad de encontrar un nuevo enfoque para manejar la creciente demanda de visitantes, especialmente en los parques más populares.
🌳 Desafíos Ambientales y de Seguridad en los Parques Nacionales
El tercer párrafo enfatiza los desafíos ambientales y de seguridad que enfrentan los parques nacionales debido a la sobrevisitación. Se menciona que el 96% de los sitios evaluados dentro del Servicio de Parques Nacionales están afectados por la contaminación del aire, con el Parque Nacional de Joshua Tree siendo uno de los más afectados. Además, se discute la carga que la afluencia de visitantes representa para la infraestructura y la seguridad de los parques, incluidos los accidentes de tráfico y la falta de espacio para estacionamiento. Se destaca la importancia de seguir las reglas de no dejar rastros y de cuidar la seguridad personal, ya que estos comportamientos pueden afectar la conservación de los parques. La narrativa también sugiere que el aumento de visitantes podría ser una oportunidad para involucrar a más personas en la preservación de estos espacios naturales.
🌱 La Necessidad de Equilibrar la Conservación y el Acceso Público
El cuarto y último párrafo reflexiona sobre la importancia de mantener un equilibrio entre la conservación de los parques nacionales y el acceso público a ellos. Se destaca la necesidad de preservar estos espacios naturales para satisfacer las necesidades espirituales de la humanidad, como lo sugirió Edward Abbey, un antiguo guardabosques del Parque Nacional de Arches. La narrativa concluye con una llamada a la acción para que tanto los visitantes como el Servicio de Parques Nacionales trabajen juntos para minimizar el impacto negativo de la sobrevisitación y mantener la integridad de estos lugares únicos. Se invita a los espectadores a profundizar en los temas tratados en el video y a suscribirse al canal para recibir más contenido relacionado.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Yosemite National Park
💡National Park Service
💡Overcrowding
💡Preservation
💡Visitation
💡Mission 66
💡Social Media
💡Leave No Trace
💡Air Pollution
💡Climate Change
Highlights
Yosemite National Park is known for its grand rocky cliffs and waterfalls, but it also faces the challenge of overcrowding with hundreds of tourists.
Recreation ecologist Dr. Ashley D'Antonio compared the crowdedness of a national park to an amusement park, reflecting the impact of high visitation numbers.
In 2016, the National Park Service recorded over 330 million visitors, an all-time high, straining the dual mission of preservation and accessibility.
The establishment of the National Park Service in 1916 aimed to prevent commercialization and ensure land preservation and public access.
John Muir, known as the father of national parks, advocated for environmental preservation spaces and influenced the national parks movement.
Post-World War II saw a boom in national park visitation, overwhelming the system and highlighting the need for improved infrastructure.
Mission 66 was implemented to enhance visitor experience and infrastructure, but it couldn't keep up with the growing crowds.
From 2014 to 2019, there was a 12% increase in park attendance, with certain parks like the Grand Canyon and Zion experiencing significant rises.
Factors contributing to the rise in visitation include social media influence, a growing middle class, affordable travel, and successful advertising campaigns.
The National Park Service is addressing overcrowding by using social media to engage visitors in preservation efforts.
Challenges faced by national parks include air pollution, a $12 billion maintenance backlog, and safety issues like car crashes and hiking accidents.
Visitors often disregard leave no trace rules, impacting the preservation of the land and contributing to environmental degradation.
The National Park Service is exploring solutions like permits, reservation systems, and shuttle buses to manage overcrowding.
Visitors are encouraged to minimize their impact on parks and consider visiting lesser-known parks to alleviate pressure on popular ones.
The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a glimpse into what national parks look like without visitors and raised concerns about crowd management.
Edward Abbey emphasized the necessity of wilderness for the human spirit, highlighting the purpose of national parks to fulfill human needs and preserve nature.
Transcripts
[Music]
imagine you're in the back country of
yosemite national park
it's a place known for its grand rocky
cliffs with the occasional waterfall
spilling over its edges
and when the sun sets it's a view unlike
any other but then upon emerging out of
this wilderness
a new kind of spectacle takes place
suddenly you are surrounded by hundreds
of people in yosemite valley
a jarring amount of tourists are
crowding in and more
are probably still looking for a parking
spot
that's kind of what happened to
recreation ecologist dr ashley d'antonio
all i remember thinking and i'd never
actually been to like disney world or
disneyland but i entered the valley and
i was like this
is not what i thought a national park
was like this feels like an amusement
park to me
it's an experience that is shaping more
and more of our national parks today
in 2016 the national park service saw
peak visitation numbers
with the rivals toppling over 330
million people
to its various parks monuments
recreation areas
and other sites within the service it's
an
astronomical number and while
overcrowding in our parks has been a
concern for
years the last decade saw an
unprecedented spike in visitation
making it more difficult for the
national park service to fulfill its
dual mission
of preserving these places while also
making them accessible to everybody
the national park service was
established in 1916
and that year yosemite national park
welcomed just over 30
000 people a hundred years later over 5
million people would enter its gates
during 2016.
today there are 419 sites under the
national park service
of those 62 are designated as official
national parks
while the parks absolutely need people
to survive they may be experiencing too
much of a good thing
how did this idea that was meant to
bring solitude
peace and nature to all people become
the new
theme park of america with long lines
that rival disneyland
we've seen this happen before in the
19th century
the crown jewel of north america was the
thundering waterfall that straddled the
u.s
canadian border niagara falls
alexis did tockville a french diplomat
and author
visited the falls in 1831 he wrote of
their spell-binding beauty but
he also wrote this in a letter to a
friend
if you wish to see this place in its
grandeur hasten
if you delay your niagara will have been
spoiled for you
already the forest roundabout is being
cleared
i don't give the americans 10 years to
establish a saw
or flower mill at the base of the
cataract
hucksters and swindlers meandered around
the falls as an increasing number of
tourists came to visit
as the falls became busier private
developers began purchasing the best
overlooks
requiring tourists to pay to use them
while half of the falls belonged to
canada
it was the u.s that many europeans
condemned for the commercialization of
niagara
quickly turning niagara falls into the
shame of america
yet these early failures at niagara do
have a silver lining
at least in part the embarrassment that
was niagara falls
led to the founding of the first
national park in 1872
yellowstone the exponential depletion
of america's beauty and game for a
degeneration of conservationists
john muir was an influential writer who
has been dubbed the father of national
parks
he wrote about the need to create spaces
for environmental preservation
he even took president teddy roosevelt a
leader closely associated with the
national parks movement
on a camping trip to yosemite by 1916
president woodrow wilson had signed the
act that created the national park
service
this created an agency under which all
national parks
monuments and historical sites could be
managed
this prevented commercialization and aim
to preserve the land while also making
it available to everyone we have this
idea that our natural resources
in the united states and our national
parks they're like these treasures that
we have
and they're unique to our country
potentially you know we don't have these
historic churches and cathedrals that
european countries have but we have
these vast open
spaces that we decided to protect
and i think that john muir and folks and
teddy roosevelt maybe had never realized
how many
people would come to love these places
the next 40 years after 1916 saw a
rapidly growing population in the united
states with that it also saw an
expansion of the road system that
connected more
and more people to nature and national
parks
when world war ii hit the park saw a
slump in attendance
this was partially due to some parks
being used as training grounds and
respite centers for the troops
but in the years after the war the park
saw a boom in visitation that completely
overwhelmed the system
from 1945 to 1955 visits to national
park service sites increased from just
over 10 million visits
to close to 50 million
a 350 increase the highest it had ever
been at the time
much of the maintenance needed to cater
to crowds of that size had been
neglected during the war years
in 1955 charles stevenson wrote in
reader's digest
your trip is likely to be fraught with
discomfort
disappointment even danger
he went on to describe his experience at
yellowstone
the moment you enter you are in a big
city traffic rush
pause to look at sites you've come
thousands of miles to see
and cars pile up a quarter of a mile
behind you
so in 1956 a plan called
mission 66 was implemented over the next
decade
to improve the infrastructure needed to
serve ever-increasing crowds
[Music]
visitor centers and new roads within
national parks increase access to the
public
and improve the national park experience
[Music]
not long after the completion of mission
66 the crowds continued to grow
and so the balance of preserving these
places
while also making sure that they're
accessible to everybody
has only become more and more off-kilter
over the years
any recreation planning you're supposed
to look towards the future but you can
only
you can only predict so far out and i
don't think they realized
how much visitation was going to
increase in the 70s and 80s and
into now so i think mission 66 was great
and part of the conversation could be
like what is our next mission 66 gonna
look like
and with more parks being added over the
years that may be
exactly what the park service needs
from 2014 to 2019 the park service saw
a 12 increase in attendance while the
previous five-year span
saw only a 2 increase visits to official
national parks clustered into some of
the most popular
parks like great smoky mountains the
grand canyon
rocky mountain zion and yosemite
to put that increase in perspective that
means that close to 35 million
more visitors came to sites under the
national park service between 2014
and 2019 exceeding over 300 million
visits for five years in a row
so what exactly is causing this and
why now so i think a few things lined up
all at once to see the really really
rapid increase we've seen in maybe the
past
five years or so you know influencers on
social media
might be contributing but it's not it's
not the one thing
it's part of this bigger story about
what's happening in our culture and our
society and our economy
that's that's leading to these increases
in recreation use at national parks and
visitation there
a rising middle class a strong economy
and the rise of affordable travel before
2020
easily contributed to park popularity
there were also some really successful
advertising campaigns
utah's five national parks saw an
increase in visitation after the park
launched the mighty five campaign in
2013.
five iconic parks one epic experience
as the salt lake tribune reported a
study found that three years after its
launch
an average of half a million more
visitors came to the parks
the year the park saw peak visitation
was 2016
and that followed on the heels of the
national park services
find your park centennial media blitz
find your park
society has also shifted towards a
bigger emphasis
on the importance of the outdoors for
mental and physical health
there's also the very real threat of
climate change
how much longer are you gonna actually
gonna be able to go to glacier
to see a glacier so i think this idea of
that our parks are threatened
can make people feel some urgency to go
to these places or it could just be
putting it more in the news and more in
front of their face and thinking about
that as a place to visit
social media has recently been the main
culprit of overcrowding in national
parks
but it may just be the newest
contributing factor among many
and the national park service is
actually using this to their benefit
now they care about this now they're
engaged now they may be interested
in a place where maybe they weren't
before so i think it's about leveraging
that access that support into
preservation and i think if you
can get people on board with that
message some of the tools that we're
looking at to implement to preserve
these places aren't going to be as
difficult as the nest
the parks now face a lot of challenges
when it comes to overcrowding
a study found that 96 of 417 sites
assessed within the park service
are plagued by air pollution problems
one of the most polluted places
was joshua tree national park and to
pile on top of the excess visitation
the park service is hoping to chip away
at the nearly 12
billion dollar maintenance backlog
beyond that
there's issues with just simply
maintaining the physical safety of
guests
car crashes are the second leading cause
of death in national parks
one person dies in a motor vehicle crash
every week on national park service
roadways
mostly in the summer months when parks
see the most crowding
and that's not to mention the congestion
and limited parking that cars bring to
national parks as well
visitors may also put their own safety
at risk
like not taking the right precautions to
hike up the popular
yet narrow trail to angel's landing in
zion national park
it involves hanging on for dear life to
a chain in order to summon
these areas are not amusement parks and
i think
the exposure that you constantly see
of some of these iconic parks there's a
familiarity
in that that i think some security is
taken for granted and of course tourists
continue to go off trails
feed wildlife and break simple leave no
trace rules
which means to leave the land the exact
same way as you found it
all of this has an impact on the
preservation of the land
as the environment risks more and more
degradation
every year and so the perception is
people are loving parks to death we're
trying to restrict
access we're trying to keep people from
crowding our parks
that's the exact opposite we're trying
to get more people in the parks at a
pace
where we can sustain that visitation and
that there's going to be a great visitor
experience for them at the end of the
day
i mean these are public lands paid by
public
federal dollars setting a capacity limit
in our parks is
a complex management issue as are a lot
of the solutions that the park service
is working on
but the challenge remains that these are
public lands
and they were created for access by all
and
it's also why a steep increase in
entrance fees
was widely opposed in 2017. the next
year
the park service announced that it would
only hike up fees
by 5 or 10 more dollars so it is
imperative that the park service
find a solution that does not limit
access things like issuing permits
creating a reservation system or a
lottery
have been implemented in parts of
different parks
to free up the roads some parks have
also implemented the use of shuttle
buses
there is no silver bullet or
one-size-fits-all solution when it comes
to fixing overcrowding in our parks
so while the park service works on that
the greatest impact
could come from us so i think it needs
to be
not just a funding solution not just a
staffing solution
but i think that visitors to these
places really need to kind of step up
like how can i go here and personally
minimize my impact
both to other visitors and to the
natural resources and if everyone was
doing that
i think what we see happening in our
national parks might be a little bit
a little bit different might be able to
handle more visitation
there are also many national parks that
don't receive
nearly as many visitors as places like
yellowstone does
visiting lesser-known parks like north
cascades
takes away the burden that some of the
most popular parks face
2020 is especially giving us a glance
into what our national parks and public
lands look like
when no one is there but the parks are
slowly reopening raising concerns about
how to manage these crowds
in a world continually being shaped by
the threat of covid19
and going forward the park service will
have to adapt to coronavirus safety
measures
maybe the silver lining and all of this
will be a
learning experience for us and how we
look at
crowd crowded areas moving forward and
certainly that's not unique to the
national park service
but i think for us in particular as one
of the issues we are
looking at right now that be something
that come out of this
is how do we look at and or manage
visitor use
in vaccine or not it just it opens your
eyes to the realization of how
vulnerable
some of these systems really are
more than 60 years ago a man named
edward abbey worked as a park ranger in
what is now arches national park
he said wilderness is not a luxury but a
necessity of the human spirit
national parks exist to satiate these
human needs
people crowd to national parks for the
same reason yet they also exist to
preserve these beautiful places
and regaining that balance matters
thank you for watching if you want to
dig deeper into the topics we covered in
this video
go ahead and check out the links below
and of course don't forget to like and
subscribe to our channel
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